Chair of CFP Selection Committee reveals thoughts on South Carolina football
South Carolina football earned a spot in Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff rankings, checking in at number 21.
The Gamecocks, sitting at 6-3, were ranked behind one team that the program has a head-to-head win over, and ahead of one that beat South Carolina earlier this season.
Texas A&M has two losses this season – one in the SEC to Shane Beamer’s program – and checked in at number 15, ahead of Carolina.
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LSU, which picked up a highly controversial win at Williams-Brice Stadium in September, also has three losses in total in 2024. The Tigers currently rank number 22, right behind the Gamecocks.
Warde Manuel, the chairman of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, was asked specifically on Tuesday night about South Carolina’s positioning over LSU.
“South Carolina and LSU have gone in different directions,” said Manuel. “South Carolina has had some wins in that time frame, and LSU has had two consecutive losses.”
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Manuel confirmed that the committee does consider head-to-head results – “closely”, he noted – but that there were other factors in this situation that outweighed the head-to-head result from earlier in the year.
“In this particular case, we also looked at the body of work and where those teams are, and so the discussion amongst the committee really came down to factoring in everything, in particular, where those teams were since that game was played,” he said. “Obviously, LSU struggled the last two weeks, and South Carolina has really performed admirably since that loss to LSU.”
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The Gamecocks have three contests remaining in the 2024 slate, including two against programs that are currently listed in the top 25 of the College Football Playoff Rankings.
Missouri, up next, checks in at number 23. Clemson, a team the Gamecocks play on the road in the regular season finale, is ranked number 20.
